Seeing Jesus

The reason for my decision to start blogging has much to do with what God is doing in my life right now. I have been through a lot over the past 2-3 years of my life. I have experience mountaintop experiences where it seemed like life could not get any better, and I have experienced deep valley experiences where I never ever thought I would be. Through it all God has been faithful. I will share my testimony later on, but for now God is leading me to write about something else.
I must right about these thoughts now as they are still fresh on my mind and even more fresh on my heart.
I attend a weekly bible study with four other men whom I look up to and cherish as great friends and leaders in my life.
It was during this bible study that God caught my heart on a subject that is at the core of who I desire to be.

Even though this event happened a little over two years ago, I remember it like it was yesterday. God will not let me forget the slightest detail. I am thankful to Him for it. I was sitting at DIA (Denver International Airport) waiting to board a flight to the great state of Iowa. I know, "Who leaves colorado to go to Iowa". I do. That is where I am from and proud of it. I sat there waiting for quite some time. I had my carry on with my ipod tucked away inside so I pulled it out to pass the time. I was rather caught up in whatever I was listening to when I noticed a man out of the corner of my eye. He was sitting about 2 rows up from me waiting for his flight to board. I continued messing around with my ipod trying to ignore my surroundings but for some reason I could not. My attention kept drawn to this man. I had never seen him before so I could not understand why he had my attention. He was consuming a sandwich it looked like he purchased from the airport deli, probably paid more then what it was worth, and he had a 20oz bottle of sprite. I watched as he sat by himself enjoying his meal while he waited to board. I watched him grab his sprite for the first drink. He opened it and it sprayed all over the place from pressure build up. The man quickly dabbed up the spill as he looked around to make sure nobody witnessed his embarrassing mishap. He sat back down and grabbed what was left of the sprite, which could only have been one drink at best. Suddenly my heart started feeling broken for the man. I was emotionally moved by the situation as I saw the man sink back into his seat disappointed that the $2.25 he spent was gone without a bit of thirst quenched. I felt something inside me tell me to go and buy the man another sprite. I sat there reasoning with myself as I refused to get up and fulfill the simple task of buying this man a bottle of pop. Finally the time came to board the plane. I walked the deck for my plane, he walked his and we never saw each other again.
To this day I am driven to tears as I remember back to this moment. I always think about what could have happened if I would have done what the Spirit had spoken to me. I wonder if that was the moment where that man would have met Christ. Could it be that I chose that man's eternal fate? My heart is broken as I recall the thoughts that shot through my mind that day. Every excuse I could think of came up for not buying that man a drink. I was so caught up myself that I missed out on the opportunity God had set right in front of me. I did not have to preach the gospel message, pull out my bible, or even pray with the man. All I needed to do is buy the man a pop. I have no idea what would have happened past that, nor will I ever know. But I hate the idea of knowing that one man could be destined to eternal damnation because of my self-centeredness. I pray often that God would allow a righteous person to touch that man's heart.

In bible study we were reading through Ephesians and talking about how Paul prayed for those he ministered to. Paul prayed, in Ephesians 1:17-19, that they may be given they be given the Spirit of wisdom and revelation that we may know Jesus better. The question asked was, "How does knowing Jesus more help us to see differently?" As we sought out to answer this question, we talked about how easy it is to pray in our prayer closets, "Jesus we want to see you", but when it come to be Christ on earth, how easy it is to forget to pray, "Jesus let us see the way you see". We always want to see Jesus in our world, but we rarely desire to see the world as he sees the world.

I believe we get so busy with life sometimes that we forget to slow down and ask Jesus to allow us to see the way he sees. I wonder, though, how often it is that we become fearful of asking to see the way Jesus sees. I think that is what occurred that night in the airport. Maybe we become fearful of seeing the way Jesus sees because it calls us to action. If I pray, "Jesus I want to see you, and Jesus I want to see as you see", then I have to act on what he allows me to see. And so to often I choose not to pray the prayer that should drive my ministry and motivate to act.

If I would have chosen to see the way Jesus saw that man in the airport, then I would have acted. At the very least, I would have blessed him with a pop. At the most, been Christ in his life.

I would challenge you to pray this prayer often:
Jesus let me see you
Jesus let me see as you see
Jesus let me act a you act.
Amen!

Don't let fear keep you from doing God's work on the earth. John 14:12 says that we will do greater things then Jesus did. It starts with being Jesus on the earth.